There's no doubt about it, I have the absolute best friends a girl could ask for. These girls, located across the country, and around the world, managed to plan the most perfect party that was fit just for me. We decided the party had to be the Saturday before the wedding (which fell on a Wednesday). I gave the girls a guest list, a list of my favorite food choices in Norfolk, and requests of possibly Granby Theater, Bugatti's, and black, white and gold.
Fast forward through many secret video conference calls, mysterious 'party planning committee' email chains, many "I don't know if I'm supposed to tell you this" conversation starts, several "what do you really want" questions and general excitement to the ultimate Bride Rite of Passage, December 27th finally arrived.
I was sent to my Mom and Stepdad's hotel room while the girls prepped our house for party central. When I returned, gold balloons filled the rooms, white flowers adorned all the surfaces, handmade black, gold and white banners adorned the walls, it was beautiful! They ordered mini biscuit sandwiches, lemon bars, potato salad and cole slaw from my Norfolk favorite, Handsome Biscuit! Along with Sue-made people chow and chex-mix, cheese and crackers, veggies and hummus and snacks, the spread of food was phenomenal.
Once the wine got flowing we played a drinking game consisting of questions Mike had previously answered about me. Some interesting tidbits about me and Mike were revealed, as was a new term for his least favorite pair of my shoes (i.e. shooties). It was absolutely sweet, totally embarrassing and just splendid. All the girls were asked to write a note or piece of advice to me, were photographed by my sister's Polaroid camera and then combined to make a wonderful scrapbook of the night.
Around 10 p.m., we made our way to Granby Theater for an awesome VIP Party Box...complete with Justin Timberlake! And by Justin Timberlake, I mean a life-size cutout of the [second] man of my dreams! He was waiting for me at the entrance of our VIP box, along with a bottle of champagne, snacks and a endless attention from EVERYONE in the club.
The rest of the evening contained the normal bachelorette debauchery one would expect, and will be left to your imagination. So many memorable and un-rememorable moments of the evening though (seriously, Emily, what happened to that necklace?!)! We finished the weekend out by taking my mom to her first Drag Yourself to Brunch show. I'm pretty sure she was loving every second of it, as the rest of us were trying the 'hair of the dog' method to soothe our bodies from the previous nights' festivities. I was left feeling incredibly enchanted to have such incredible girls in my life to spend a great celebration weekend with. I haven't had all my friends together like that in many, many years and know it will be many, many more before I get to enjoy them all together again.